Search AIA

Primary Navigation

EducationFor Providers

Page Tools

Advertisements

Registered Provider Program FAQ’s

AIA-Accordion

Provider Frequently Asked Questions

AIA CES Approved Providers are organizations that have been approved by AIA/CES to provide continuing education in accordance with the policies outlined in the Provider Manual. Approved Providers include architecture firms and stakeholder providers, which include associations, government agencies, product manufacturers, and universities. In addition, AIA Components and AIA National in-house departments are also AIA/CES providers.

• Opportunity to provide not only face-to-face courses, but also offer webcasts, webinars, online courses, and articles for credit

• If you are a registered Provider the more likely AIA Components will choose to work with your company as opposed to a company that is not registered through the AIA

• Courses registered through the AIA are accepted by the state licensing boards (SLB). There are a few exceptions; please visit the SLB website for specific details.

• Members seek out companies that are Providers

• Online credit submission is linked to the Member transcript which is automatically updated.

2. Is the AIA/CES Provider Program right for me?

If you agree with any of the statements below, you would benefit from becoming an AIA CES Provider:

• You meet with clients that have asked you to provide courses registered by AIA for continuing education.

• You have developed or would like to develop courses offered to: Architects, Engineers, and other related design professionals.

• You would like to offer distance education courses for continuing education credits to design professionals.

• You host an annual event at which you would like to provide professional continuing education to your participants.

• Your architecture firm would like to establish a strong internal professional development program.

• You would like to offer distance education programs for continuing education credits to design professionals.

3. How Do I Become A Provider?

Information about becoming a provider course can be online. Look for the Apply to Become a Provider link and visit aia.org/education.

More information about the AIA CES Provider Courses can be found within the CES Provider Manual. The AIA Continuing Education System (AIA CES) Provider Manual is designed to give Approved Providers an overview of the guidelines by which the continuing education system is governed. Register to become a CES Provider using our online application.

4. What is a Provider Number?

Once approved as a Provider, you will receive an email welcoming you to the Registered Provider Network. In this email you will be given a Provider Number, username and password. The Provider Number will usually be 4 to 8 alpha/numeric characters. This number will stay the same. Providers can change their usernames and passwords, but not the Provider Number.

Point of Contacts (POC) act as a liaison between AIA CES National and the Provider Organization. POCs are the first line of communication for the Provider’s representatives and must be aware of, and address questions and concerns that arise from their organization’s representatives.

Only the listed Primary and Secondary POCs can make inquiries to AIA CES on behalf of the organization. Any others User inquiries will be redirected back to the listed Primary and Secondary POCs.

Email is our primary source of contact at AIA CES, so it is important to designate one Primary Point of Contact and one Secondary Point of Contact in your organization who are familiar with our system and involved with administering the courses and reporting the participant credits. Provider Primary or Secondary points of contact should be persons directly involved in the administration of the CES course.

7. What information is needed to add a New POC?

In order to add a new colleague as a Point of Contact (POC) to the Provider Subscription, please email the following information:

• Organization Provider Number

• Mailing Address

• New Provider Contact Name

• New Provider Contact Email Address

• Specify whether the new POC will serve as the Primary, Secondary or User. (Rights and Responsibilities are outlined on pages 14-15 of the Provider Manual.)

• Name and telephone number of individual requesting this change

Please email us at cessupport@aia.org or as a reply to this email with a heading of "Add New AIA CES Primary POC/Secondary POC/CES User.

These valuable workshops are meant for anyone interested in the Provider Program or current Providers wanting to know more about CES basics, best practices and “nonnegotiables”, CES Web site navigation, marketing strategies and instructional systems design (ISD) tips. We also focus in on how to develop learning objectives and effective PowerPoint's so you can design your courses properly in the context of the CES policy.

10. What are the types of AIA CES Credits (Learning Unit Hours)?

There are two types of AIA CES provider course learning units:

General LUs (abbreviated as ―LU)

Health, Safety, and Welfare (HSW) (abbreviated as ―LU/HSW, since they qualify as LU and HSW)

11. What is a learning objective?

A learning objective is an explicit statement that clearly expresses what the student will learn or be able to do after taking the course. It is an observable and measurable student outcome statement. Learning objectives should be concise and concrete, so they are open to limited interpretation. Learning objectives should begin with, “At the end of this course, participants will be able to…”

a. BEHAVIOR
Describes what participants will be able to do as a consequence of taking a course (for example, calculate).

b. CONDITION
Describes conditions under which the student will perform the behavior (for example, using the sample course residential project...

c. CRITERIA
Describes the criteria you will use to evaluate student performance
(for example, the total cost of materials).

12. Is it 4 learning objectives per hour or 4 learning objectives per course?

As stated within the CES Provider Manual, a provider must submit a minimum of 4 learning objectives per course. For example, if a provider offers an all-day workshop, consisting of 4 different courses, the provider must submit at least 16 learning objectives (4 per course.) However, if a provider offers an all-day workshop, and the 8 hours of instruction is only one course, then the provider must submit at least 4 learning objectives. In cases such as the one 8hour course, AIA/CES encourages providers to submit at least 4 learning objectives, but enough to reflect all important aspects of the course that an attendee will learn.

Note: If your course is being offered for Health, Safety, and Welfare (HSW) credits, then three of the four learning objectives must address these topic areas. 75 percent course content must cover aspects of the credit designation for which you seek.

13. How Will I Be Notified of Changes or Updates?

Providers are notified of changes and updates via the CES Provider Connection. Any new state licensing regulations, AIA CES program changes, best practices or requests for sponsors/exhibitors are listed.

14. How are my courses advertised on your Web Site?

One benefit offered to CES Providers is an area in the Continuing Education section to advertise their courses. All CES Provider courses registered online are automatically advertised in our Course Directory.

15. What languages can a continuing education course be offered?

All CES Provider courses that are registered properly with the AIA CES Records office are acceptable for AIA/LU hours regardless of what language or format they are offered. Over 40% of AIA members speak Spanish, many as a first language. We encourage all of our CES Providers to consider offering courses in alternate languages, especially Spanish.

16. What is a course number?

A course number is an alpha numeric code that reflects a particular course, and is 8digits long. For instance if you are offering a 3course conference over 3 days, you may want to create course numbers similar to the following which include reference to day and date:

WE072110
TH072210
FR072310

17. What is a course EID?

Course EID is your Provider Number-Course Number.

18. I offer the same conference every year. Should I change the conference title?

AIA CES suggests that you include the year within the conference title. For instance, if you offer a conference, “How to Build Houses every year”, we suggest you alter the title to How to Build Houses 2010, or How to Build Houses 2011.

19. What is mandatory continuing education (MCE)?

Mandatory Continuing Education (MCE) is education required by a state to retain licensure. Over 45 jurisdictions and 10 Canadian Provinces have implemented a MCE license requirement, but these requirements vary from state to state, province to province. For a quick overview of individual state/province MCE requirements, please visit the MCE Interactive Map.

Course Submissions

1. Why is it important I select the proper credit designation if the submission is going to be reviewed anyway?

First and foremost, it shows that you really understand the nature of your course content. Additionally, if the wrong credit designation is selected, it means that the submission has to be sent back as requiring more information, which makes the path to approval longer.

2. Why are both a description and learning objectives needed in a course submission?

The description is a basic summary of the course content, and the learning objectives are metrics by which the knowledge of the attendees can be measured. Both are needed in order to provide a complete picture of what the course is about.

3. Why is it important that I change the status of a course to Pending Admin Approval when it’s ready to be reviewed?

This is how your course shows up in the review list. If you leave your submission in Draft Submission without switching to Pending Admin Approval, there is no way to know it’s complete, and it will therefore not be reviewed.

4. How do I know do I know how many credits my course has been approved for?

Unless you are notified otherwise, your course is approved for the number of credits you assigned in the submission. If you forget how many credits you assigned, you can easily find out by logging into Discovery and going to “Courses” and clicking on “Approval Search” in the left hand menu. Simply enter your course number and click “search”. This allows you to view the details of your submission the same way you do when you add a new course.

5. Once my course is approved, how long does the approval last?

• Course approvals are good for three years before expiring and needing to be renewed. In that time, you can offer the course as many times as you want.

6. Do I need to do a new course submission every time I offer a course?

• No. Every time you offer a course, you only need to add a session in the “Session Basics” page in the submission, which will allow you to enter attendance. Please do not enter the course multiple times, as it serves no purpose other than to take up unnecessary space in the system and create confusion down the road.

7. If I change the title of my course do I need to add a new course submission?

Yes, when you change the title of a course, it will affect the data on all member transcripts. To ensure member transcripts remain accurate, please add a new course if the course title, course number, or more than 25% of the course content has changed.

Provider Audits, Policies, and Quality Assurance

1. What are Provider Audits?

The mission of the AIA CES Quality Assurance Audit is to identify and promote honest, efficient, effective and fully accountable providers. The program is designed to help CES Providers accomplish their objectives by bringing a systematic, disciplined approach to evaluate and improve their effectiveness in the areas of administration, delivery, content development and promotion.

AIA/CES conducts provider audits to ensure that the CES guidelines outlined in the Provider Manual are being followed in the field. All Approved Providers are subject to random audits. audits.

2. How are CES Provider Audits conducted?

Provider audits can be formal or informal and may be conducted by telephone, online or onsite using participants, AIA CES staff, or consultants that sit in on a course anonymously. Be proactive about adhering to the guidelines and be sure to comply with the administrative process for submitting courses and attendance. Providers found not to be in compliance with the guidelines outlined in the Provider Manual will be required to make immediate changes or risk forfeiting their provider status.

3. When re-registering your courses, do you keep the same course code?

According to the Provider manual, when re-registering a course you must give it a new course number.

4. What are all of the course levels?

The level of the course is determined by the person designing the course. The determination is based on the amount of information and at what pace the information will be presented. If the course will present less information and move at a slower pace, usually it is a beginner course. However, if the course is moving at a faster pace with more information it is considered to be a higher level course. The Intermediate level will be mid-level.

Beginner Courses have the following criteria:

• For individuals with limited or no prior knowledge or experience of the subject area

• Helps individuals learn about the subject area

• For individuals new to the field, just learning or starting out

• For young or inexperienced professionals

• For individuals seeking to learn the fundamentals about a subject area

Intermediate Courses have the following criteria:

• For individuals who have some knowledge of the subject area

• For individuals with experience in the subject area

• For individuals who have some application of the subject area

• For individuals who are mid-level in the field with some degree of competence

• For individuals seeking to build on, apply or enhance knowledge in subject area

Advanced Courses have the following criteria:

• For individuals with experience and knowledge in the subject area

• For individuals well beyond the beginning and mid-level

• For individuals with greatly developed knowledge and seeking to heighten their knowledge

• For knowledgeable individuals seeking to move ahead in the subject area

• For individuals seeking information to aid in the growth or progress of knowledge

• For individuals seeking the most up- to-date knowledge in the subject area

• For individuals who could be deemed an expert in the field

Providers are now encouraged to add the appropriate course level in the keywords field when registering courses in CES Discovery. In addition, you can also add the course level as the last sentence in the course description field.

5. Will you accept attendance after 10 days?

Course attendance can be reported after 10 days. However, the Provider reporting attendance after 10 days will be penalized for non-compliance with AIA CES policies.

6. Is the certificate template on Discovery the required one to use? Or can we use our own template that captures all of the required information?

According to the Provider Manual:

Providers are free to choose the method of distribution for certificates as long as the certificates are received by participants within 10 days of taking a course. In addition all certificates of completion must include the information below.

• Name of the Approved Provider

• Course title and course number

• Date(s) of attendance

• Signature of presenter (can be a scanned signature)

• AIA CES logo – This must be included or it may not be accepted by some licensing boards

7. Where to find the certificate of completion template

A template for a certificate of completion may be found online in the CES Discovery Homepage under Resources. You may use your company’s own letterhead for the certificates.

8. For conference events with multiple speakers and panels, do all speakers need to sign a speaker agreement?

Yes. Providers are required to have Speaker agreements on file for ALL speakers.

9. For distance learning is a course evaluation required?

Course Evaluation

In order to maintain high-quality learning experiences for our members, Approved Providers are required to distribute a course evaluation at the end of all continuing education sessions. For online courses, this evaluation must be included after participants complete the quiz. A Course Evaluation Template is available under the Resources tab in CES Discovery. Feel free to add any questions that will help you improve the quality of your courses. You may also remove any questions that do not apply. The AIA CES logo is required on all evaluation forms and your company logos are acceptable as well.

10. Do speakers have to have attendees complete the course evaluation?

Yes.

11. Can someone other than the speaker sign the certificate? We have our CEO to do so.

Yes, the CEO can sign the certificate; however, the name of the speaker delivering the course must be present on the certificate.

12. Are quizzes/exams required for distance education?

On-demand course quiz/exam requirement

All on-demand distance learning courses must offer a quiz or exam at the end of the course. The quiz or exam should be outcomes based and quantifiable, as members will need to pass it with a score of 80 percent or better to be eligible to receive AIA CES learning units. If they do not score 80 percent or better, they should be allowed to retake the quiz as many times as necessary until they pass.

Providers are responsible for creating, distributing, and grading all quizzes or exams. In addition, providers are only to award AIA CES learning units (LUs) or a certificate of completion to participants with an 80 percent or better score. Please note that there is a minimum of 10 quiz or exam questions required per course.

Acceptable Quiz/Exam types include

• True and False

• Multiple Choice

• Fill in the blank

13. Does AIA CES call class attendees to find out about what the attendee thought about the class, instructors, etc.?

Yes, as part of a CES audit process AIA CES randomly selects a handful of past participants of classes offered by CES Providers.

14. Will All Providers be Audited or just those with Complaints against their courses?

AIA CES strives to audit all Providers.

15. Are AIA CES course evaluations required?

Providers are required to make course evaluations available to the course attendees AIA CES Evaluations are for the purpose of maintaining a high quality education system and providing feedback to course instructors.

16. Can we use the AIA Logo to promote our courses? Can we let our suppliers use the AIA logo?

No! You can only use the CES logo that is available for download from the Discovery Resources which is accessible after you sign in on the Providers Page. Also, you are the AIA CES Provider, not your suppliers. They cannot use either logo. Never allow a “cooperative” organization to use the AIA or CES logo for your registered courses. Our legal counsel will follow through on a cease and desist order and you are likely to have your status as a CES Provider suspended indefinitely.

The use of the AIA logo > eagle on a column is a trademark infringement when used by any organization other than AIA National or an AIA Component. It has been brought to our attention recently a number of situations where a company or organization has used the AIA logo which is an AIA registered trademark. The AIA logo is only authorized for use by AIA National and by AIA Components. As a provider you are only allowed to use the AIA CES logo.

17. What are the requirements for AIA CES Logo usage?

The AIA CES logo has quickly become a highly recognized symbol in the design community. Current CES Approved Providers are authorized to use the logo to advertise their organizations or their registered courses as AIA CES registered or approved. Only currently approved AIA CES providers are authorized to use this logo. Former providers or inactive providers are not eligible.

Providers may display the AIA CES logo on their company’s Web site, business cards, course handouts and materials, course Power Point slides, and so on.

To obtain a copy of the AIA CES logo please log into the CES Discovery Homepage and click on the Resources tab.

18. What is the purpose of the Provider Manual?

The AIA Continuing Education System (AIA CES)Provider Manualis designed to give Approved Providers an overview of the guidelines by which the continuing education system is governed. Providers are responsible for the supervision and administration of educational activities in compliance with the AIA CES guidelines in this manual. We encourage Providers to disseminate theinformation found here to all representatives in their organizations associated with the CES Provider course. Please refer to the CES Discovery website or the Tutorials section of this manual for further information onbecoming an AIA CES provider.

19. Are Providers responsible for certificates?

AIA CES Providers are required to provide Certificates of Completion to any course attendees who request them. Providers are required to supply Certificates of Completion to participants upon request within 10 days of course completion. A certificate of completion serves as proof of attendance for participants in an AIA CES course. The certificate serves as documentation of attendance in order to help satisfy mandatory continuing education requirements for state re-licensure. You can find a template of a Certificate of Completion, and other useful tools by clicking on the Resources section on the CES Discovery Homepage. For more information about AIA CES policies, please thoroughly review the CES Provider Manual.

20. What information is required on the certificates of completion?

All certificates of completion for AIA CES courses must contain the following information:

• Name of the Approved Provider

• Course title and course number

• Date(s) of attendance

• Signature of presenter (can be a scanned signature)

• AIA CES logo – This must be included or it may not be accepted by some licensing boards

Yes, it is the responsibility of the provider to submit credits for members taking their course(s). This is a service to the members.

22. Can we advertise our course as “Credits Pending AIA Approval”?

NO! Providers are prohibited from marketing courses with any language along the lines of “credits pending AIA CES approval.” Your course has either been approved or disapproved; there is no such thing as credits pending approval. If you offer your course without approval and we review it and determine that it does not qualify for CES credits, the members who attended will not receive credit, even though they took the course.

23. What types of AIA CES Credits/Learning Units can we offer?

There are two types of AIA CES provider course learning units:

1) General learning units: All provider courses, unless the provider indicates otherwise, are eligible for general course learning units.

2) Health, Safety, and Welfare (HSW) learning units: In order for a provider to offer Health, Safety, and Welfare (HSW) learning units, a course must meet all of the criteria outlined in the HSW section of the manual and be registered as such.

24. How often should I reregister a course?

Providers must update and reregister courses every three years to ensure that the course content is up to date. Courses that are not used or updated every three years will automatically be dropped from the system and be ineligible for AIA CES credit.

25. What slides are Mandatory PowerPoint slides for the presentation?

The AIA CES Quality Assurance slides are made up of three mandatory PowerPoint slides, which must be inserted and addressed in all AIA CES courses including distance learning, as well as one optional slide. If a course is not PowerPoint based, the content found on the three mandatory slides must still be addressed verbally or with handouts.

The Quality Assurance slides include:

• Course Title Slide (required)

• Copyright Slide (optional)

• Course Description Slide (required)

• Learning Objectives Slide (required)

• Conclusion Slide (required)

26. Where can I obtain the quality assurance slides?

A template with the quality assurance slides can be found by logging into the online CES Discovery Homepage and click on the Resources tab. The template will be under the Quality Assurance heading. Back to Section

29. What is the difference between online/live (Instructor led) and on demand (No Instructor) courses?

Online/live courses are courses in which the learner and instructor engage in the learning activity simultaneously regardless of the location. (Examples of online courses include Webinars and live video streaming).

On demand courses are courses in which the learner and the instructor do not interact during the learning activity because there is a separation of time. Examples of on-demand courses include courses which are prerecorded and available 24/7, anytime and anywhere. Also, educational courses formatted as magazine articles, prerecorded tours and podcasts are considered on-demand courses. Back to Section

30. When can I begin to advertise or market my course?

Providers may not advertise or market a course until it has been registered and approved by AIA CES. Five days after you register your course you will be able to confirm whether it has been approved. Until you are in receipt of a course approved status, you may not advertise or market your course.

31. How to Advertise a Course after it is registered?

Once you register a course, your course is advertised in our online course directory.

What Course Directories can AIA member and AEC Professionals choose from when searching for my course?

What Course Topics can AIA member and AEC Professionals choose from when searching for my course?

Approximately 100 topics are listed for each of 9 course directories. Please add a keyword for you topic when registering your course with the AIA CES in those instances when your topic is not listed. Back to Section

32. Since I am an Approved AIA CES Provider, can I promote my courses as AIA CES accredited or certified?

Because the AIA is neither a certifying nor accrediting body, Approved Providers and courses are neither accredited nor certified. It is important to understand this distinction so you can advertise your organization and courses appropriately. Providers and provider courses should be advertised only as “AIA CES Registered” or “AIA CES Approved.” Please do not advertise or market your organization or courses as AIA CES accredited or AIA CES certified.

Sustainability has been a focus of architectural practice for over thirty years, and the AIA has provided resources and tools to assist its members in better serving their clients and communities through environmentally responsible projects. The AIA Board of Directors recognized the need to again help prepare their colleagues and fellow practitioners respond to the latest challenges and opportunities facing the profession. The issue of climate change and the impact of buildings on carbon emissions created a new expectation among clients and the public to look to the expertise of architects for solutions that can help them generate higher performance environments. The AIA is responding to this growing demand for our members to assume greater leadership in addressing the challenges facing our planet.

2. When and why did this requirement expire?

Recognizing that sustainable design practices have become a mainstream design intention in the architectural community, the Board of Directors has voted to allow the sustainable design education requirement to sunset at the end of calendar year 2012. AIA members will no longer need to complete the sustainable design requirement to fulfill their AIA continuing education. For 2014, AIA members are required to satisfy a minimum of 18 LUs per year. Of this total, 12 must meet the Health, Safety, and Welfare (HSW) criteria.

AIA CES Discovery is a web-based, automated system for managing AIA members’ continuing education credits and transcripts. In addition, the AIA CES records management system is a single, web-based portal for all CES Provider Tools, Resources and Templates.

2. How Do I Register a Course and How Do I fill out Course Attendance?

To register a course, please see the CES Discovery Tutorials.

NOTICE: When courses are submitted for approval, AIA CES will use the course title, course description and learning objectives to determine approval and learning unit designation. This policy applies for both face-to-face and distance education courses. Only the aforementioned items will be considered.

3. How Do I fill out Course Attendance?

To submit attendance information, please see the CES Discovery Tutorials. I am not able to find some members in order to report credits. What should I do? It is not uncommon for AIA members to write down wrong number on course attendance sheets. If this happens, search member by name in the Discovery System.

4. Can I/How do I add another Member to a Course Attendance form already submitted?

To submit course attendance, please see the CES Discovery Tutorials.

5. What is the difference between a course and a session?

A course is education or training imparted in a series of lessons or meetings and a session isone scheduled meeting of a course. (Example: Basket Weaving 101 Course’s third meeting would be Session 3)

6. If I am not an AIA Approved Provider can I self-report credits for AIA members who attend my training?

No! No company is authorized to self-report the credits for attending their courses that are not AIA approved. Only AIA Approved Providers can offer AIA approved courses and report the attendance for AIA approved LU’s. Unless you are an approved and registered AIA Provider, you cannot advertise their course as AIA approved.

7. How Do I Reset My Username/Password?

To reset the password please Sign in from the Providers Page. Under Provider Login information enter your username and password, and click Login. Click on Update Account. From the Change Account page if you change your username click on Change Account. If you change your password, click on Change Password.

8. How do Attendees of my Course get their Learning Units?

Registered AIA CES Providers are required to record credits for AIA members. For non-AIA members, a certificate of completion can be mailed to them to meet their state CE requirements. Both documents can be found under Resources tab in CES Discovery after providers sign in on the Providers Page. Providers need to enter their username and password to get to the Resources Menu.

9. How do I Add a New Course?

Established Providers (Primary, Secondary and User Point of Contacts) may add new courses in the Discovery system. To do so, please complete the following steps:

• Begin by logging into the CES Discovery System with your email address and password here.

• Once you have successfully logged into the system, select the ADMIN MENU link found at the top right side of the screen of the homepage.

• Select Add New Course on the left to begin registering a course.

• Select a Course Directory topic. In order for your course to appear in the Online Course Directory, a Course Directory topic should be selected.

• Fill in the Course Title, Course Number, and Course Description. The course number can be up to 12 alpha/numeric characters.

• The Key Words field is optional. (When someone is searching for your course in the online course directory, they have the option to search by keywords)

• Choose the Course Format.

• Once all fields have been filled in, click the Save and Continue button.

• Fill in the Number of Course Learning Units. (For your reference, the learning units are equal to the length of the course, so a one hour course would equal one learning unit)

• Fill in the Credit Designation field which indicates learning unit or LU, health safety & welfare or LU|HSW.

• The Contact Us field is optional. (Let the inquirer know who to contact if they have questions regarding your course)

• Fill in all Learning Objective fields. (For HSW courses, three out of the four learning objectives must reflect HSW topic areas)

• Click the Save and Continue button.

• On the Session Basics screen click the Add New Session button.

Note:All courses need at least one session before the course can be approved. If unsure of the exact session date at the time you are registering the course, you may enter the current date. You may always add a session at a later time.

• Click the Save and Continue button.

• The Time & Resources screen is optional. (You may add a time to a particular session)

You may view your entire course by clicking Preview Course Setting on the left of the screen.

Courses are reviewed by AIA CES within 5 business days and you will receive an email notification upon approval. You will also receive an email notification letting you know if your course requires more information or if denied it will include the reason(s) why and instructions on how to edit and resubmit your course. This information will also be available in the Comment section box in the Approval Status tab.

• In the Delivery Provider menu, make sure the name of your organization is selected

• Click ‘Search’ in the bottom right. This will generate a provider course list, telling you all the courses that are associated with your organization. The courses are arranged by course title in alphabetical order.

• For more details on any of the courses, click on the course title.

11. How do I know if my course has been approved?

Your course will be reviewed by the Continuing Education Team and will have a status of "Approved" if it meets all criteria. To determine the status of a new course, please log into Discovery.

• Select "Admin Menu" in the upper right hand corner

• Choose "Courses" and enter your course title or number

• "Approval Status" tab on the left will indicate whether or not your course has been approved

• Courses are reviewed 35 business days from submittal

12. How do I run a View Member Attendance Report?

You can confirm attendance was reported by running a report which will give you a list of members entered for that session.

How to Run Shared Reports in AIA CES Discovery:

• From www.aia.org/education, sign in using your email address and password.

• After signing in, select “Admin Menu” on the welcome page.

• Select the red “Reports” tab from the top menu bar.

• From the Shared Reports underneath the red bar, find "View Member Attendance."

• Then click the “Go” button corresponding with "View Member Attendance."

• It is mandatory that you enter your provider number in the Provider Code box, Course Number and Session Code and click the “Run report” button. (Session code can be found by clicking on the "Report Attendance" Tab and searching for the course number and clicking the "Sessions" button. In the list that appears of all the sessions given, the session code will be listed.)

• Depending on the number of attendees, the report will take a minute to run.

• After reading your report, click the “Refresh” button to show the “Print” and “Raw Export” options.

• If you want to print the report, click the “Print” button and, when prompted, click the printer icon.

• If you want to export the report into a Microsoft Excel, XML, or plain text document, click the “Raw Export” button and select the desired option.

• Click the “Return to Results” button to return to the report view, or click “Download” to download your

13. Did my attendance submission report correctly?

To determine if your attendance was successfully submitted:

• From www.aia.org/education, sign in to Discovery using your email address and password.

• After signing in, select “Admin Menu” on the welcome page.

• Select the red “Report Attendance” tab from the top menu bar.

• From the Course Management link underneath the red bar, search for the course you wish to check attendance for.

• Click on the Course Title.

• Determine the correct session date and click the rectangle with the number of attendees in the 'Completed' column.

• This will generate a list of the members whose attendance you successfully reported for this session.

• If you want to print the report, click the “Print” button on the bottom right.

14. How do I add a Session?

To add a session:

• log into CES Discovery

• click on ‘Admin Menu’ in the upper right

• You will see a screen that reads, 'course approval search'

• Type in the course number in the ‘course number’ box in the center of the page

• click ‘Search’

• when the course appears at the bottom of the screen, click the on the title of the course.

• click the ‘Session Basics’ tab on the left

• click the ‘Add New Session’ button in the bottom right

• place the dates of the session in the ‘from’ and ‘to’ boxes at the top

• click ‘Save’

• You will see a message that reads, 'New session has been added successfully'

• Click 'ok'

15. How do I report attendance manually, without using bulk upload or electronic submission?

While many steps are listed, we can assure you that once you do this a few times, reporting attendance is very easy!

To report attendance manually, one member at a time, please complete the following steps:

• Choose "Select" by the course session. Or, if the session date is not listed, click the "Add Session" button. In the Add Session screen, input the session date in the 'From' and 'To' boxes and click 'Save.'

• Enter either the member name or member number and "Search"

• "Select" the member that will receive credit (and that name will "gray out" and list at the bottom of the page

• Enter as many member numbers as you see fit

• Once you have listed all the applicable members, select "Grade." The final Grade screen that lists the members may take a minute to load, depending on the number of attendees you are reporting.

• "Check" the box next to the word "Name"

• In the bottom row of dropdown menus only (the row at the bottom not associated with a particular member):

• Select the "Date Completed"

• Choose "Attended"

• Choose "Complete" (For select course types, i.e. distant learning, one should enter 100 in the empty field to denote one should receive full credit for the course)

• Click "Apply"

• Click "Save"

16. How Do I bulk upload my courses?

You may use the bulk upload method to report many attendees. To do this:

• Course ID/Course EID: provider number-course number (make sure you have a hyphen between the provider number and course number)

• Session Code: can be found under 'Report Attendance': look up course and sessions to find session code

• Member ID/User ID: AIA member number

• Completion Date: date of session (if the session took place over multiple days, use the last day)

• After inputting this information, click the Options button near the AIA logo and enable the Macros. Then, click the gray rectangle that says "Save As." This generates your output file.

• Return to Discovery and click 'Admin Menu'

• Click on 'Courses' and go to 'Course Search'

• Click 'import'

• Click the 'Achievements' tab on the left

• Use the 'Browse' button to input your saved output file

• Click ‘Submit’

17. What is the electronic attendance form and how do I use it?

The AIA will offer Electronic Attendance Conference Forms in 2012 which allow for processing of CES Attendance Submittals. Before using this form, please make sure the Adobe Acrobat reader software is installed on your computer.

• Save the document to a specified location on your computer such as your Desktop. You may do this by clicking “File”/ “Save As” or by clicking the Save Icon in the upper left.

• Go to the location on your computer where you saved the document and open it.

• Using a separate form for each day of the conference, type the following information for each course being given at your conference: Conference Title; Provider Name; Provider Number; Conference Date (in MM/DD/YYYY format); Course Number; Session Code; LU Hours; HSW Designation

• Print these forms and make them available to conference attendees. Instructions are provided on the form directing attendees on recording the courses they attend. Please remind members that they must fill in their correct AIA member numbers using blue or black ink so that they receive credit.

• Collect the attendance forms and review for errors or omissions.

• Submit the form via fax or email:

• Fax it to 202-626-8055

• If you are scanning and emailing the document, please scan it in Fine Resolution (300 x 300 DPI Resolution) as either a PDF or TIF file. Scan and email it to cesattendance@aia.org.

• Please allow up to 5 days for the attendance to appear on the respective members’ transcripts. Forms received by the AIA that are unreadable or that contain irresolvable errors will be returned to the provider for correction.

18. What if I receive the error message for a newly submitted course: "Needs More Information"?

Please consider the following:

• Was a "Course Description" under "Course Basics" entered?

• Were four learning objectives entered under "Course Additional?"

• If your course will be eligible for HSW credit, do three out of the four objectives meet the HSW requirement?

• Was a future session date under "Session Basics" entered?

Once missing information is added, please change the status back to "Pending Admin Approval" in the "Approval Status" tab. The course will be reviewed again. If approved, the status will be updated to "Approved."

19. What if I received a Provider Login Error?

Recently, you attempted to log into CES Discovery and were not successful. This is a result of some internal technical issues. On our end, our colleagues are working on these issues as we speak and are committed to resolving them as quickly as possible.

Please afford us 24 hours as we work on achieving a solution. At that point in time, please attempt to log in again.

If the problem persists, beyond this time frame, please call us at 18002423837, option 3 (Continuing Education Member Support).

Thank you for contacting the American Institute of Architects.

To find a list of current AIA Providers in the online directory, please do the following:

• Click the "Advanced" link underneath the red bar to conduct an Advanced Search under the 'Delivery Provider Name' category

20. How do I receive notification emails on course submission updates?

To receive new course submission confirmation emails, please complete the following steps:

• Log into Discovery

• Choose the “Course” Module

• When submitting a New Course, one will find a check box in the “Approval Status” area

Once one elects to receive them, there is no way to “opt out” of the confirmation emails. Our team is working with the vendor to change this.

21. How do I Save courses as “Pending Admin Approval”?

We recognize there is an outstanding issue involving saving new course submissions as “Pending Admin Approval” using certain web browsers. Please try doing this using the Internet Explorer web browser (version 6 or newer). It will not allow you to save courses as pending admin approval using Firefox or Safari. We will continue to work with our vendor to ensure that the Discovery system is compatible with additional browsers in the future.

Professional provider: A provider authorized to offer face-to-face and distance learning nationally and internationally. This provider category is reserved for academic institutions, government agencies, and nonprofit associations. Cost: $850.00

Architecture firm provider: A provider that is an architecture firm in which a principal or owner is an AIA member. In addition, there are two types of architecture firm providers (internal and external).

You should dedicate 30-45 minutes to complete the online application in its entirety. You will need to answer the 4 questions below with 150 characters minimum. We recommend completing these questions ahead of time and copying them into the application so that your application session does not time out.